Friday, August 2, 2013

Jhoulys Chacin becoming an ace for the Colorado Rockies in 2013

Jhoulys Chacin continued his breakout season.

With all of the struggles the Colorado Rockies have had in the past six weeks, a few bright spots have popped through the cloudy skies.

On Friday night in Pittsburgh, one of those bright spots continued shining. Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight dominant innings against a very good Pirates team. He scattered six hits over those eight innings, limiting the damage to one run, in large part to the fact that he was throwing strikes. He struck out three and didn't walk a Pittsburgh batter.

Through 96 pitches, Chacin pounded the strike zone. All but 24 of the pitches were in the strike zone, or swung on by Pirate batters.

The victory gave Chacin his 10th of the season, one short of his career high, set back in 2010 when he went 11-14. At 10-5, there is little doubt that the 2013 season has been the best one yet for the 25-year-old.

The biggest reason for Chacin's success has plenty to do with the number of strikes he is throwing. However, that is only focusing on the results of what has changed. The key to Chacin's success has been because he isn't afraid to throw his entire arsenal of pitches to any hitter. Early in his career, Chacin wouldn't throw his changeup to right-handed hitters. When he is successful, he is able to locate that pitch and get weak ground balls out of it.

In addition to Chacin's changeup, he has learned to keep the ball down in the strike zone. Instead of trying to strike batters out, Chacin no longer wastes pitches trying to get a swing-and-miss. He pitches to contact, knowing that his stuff is good enough that even when it is hit, it is hit weakly and into the ground, resulting in an out. Living in the strike zone has benefited the Venezuelan pitcher two-fold. He gets quicker outs, plus he ends up walking less batters and stays in his rhythm.

There have been some bright spots in a season in which Rockies fans have had to adjust their expectations. The offense, which was supposed to be the strength of this team, has largely been disappointing. Despite strong numbers, the hits in the clutch simply hasn't happened.

On Friday night, the Rockies got those clutch hits. Todd Helton, 17-years removed from his big league debut in the same city that he started in, came through in the clutch. Hit drilled a 98-MPH fastball from left-handed Josh Wilson back up the middle plating two runs and putting the Rockies up for good.

Troy Tulowitzki also rebounded with a 2-for-3 night, getting the Rockies on the board in the 2nd inning with his 20th home run of the season.

There have been some disappointments as the summer weather heated up for the Rockies. However, Chacin has been one of the positives. In all, the top three starting pitchers in the Rockies rotation have been the reason that this team has a shot to win more than 75 games. Between Chacin, Jorge De La Rosa, a true ace who has dominated coming off of surgery, and Tyler Chatwood, the Rockies have a very competitive baseball team. Without those three guys, the Rockies would be in trouble. With them, the Rockies can improve from a year ago and build around them.

hey, nothing worse than a thin skinned writer.......very laughable article.....truly comedic.pretty soon you will be extolling the virtues of the Monfort family and how wonderful they are for Colorado's embarrassing MLB franchise.

Honestly, not sure I am following you? I don't think you read the article, or for that matter, any of my articles. "Extolling the virtues of the Monfort family and how wonderful they are for Colorado's embarrassing MLB franchise" is something far from anything written on this blog.

I welcome criticism of all kind, honestly, I grew up with and still have a head full of red hair, deprecation is far from something that bothers me. However, in an honest question, was there a point you were getting at with your comment, or were you just looking for a response?

relax, Mr. Martin, we are trying to laugh instead of cry from the utter futility of the Monfort family MLB effort.red hair, I have no interest in your physical characteristics.unless you focus entirely on the ownership problem, your blog is just a lot of sophomorichorsedoo.......entertaining at times, but just not productive.

baseball is a team sport.......the only thing that matters is the team winning and pursuing wins, each day every day, and winning titles, playoffs, championships.extolling the performance of individual players, although of some merit for the individual, is the hallmark of losing teams.Focus on the huge problem the Colorado franchise has with ineffective owners.That huge, fetid cow pie covering the ball park at blake is completely the responsibility of the Monforts.While Colorado's MLB franchise rots from within.........write your feel good line if you must.

Mr Anonymous you sound like a jaded lover bringing your passion for the Monfort family to the public for everyone to read. Sounds like you took one right up the Hershey highway and never got a call the next day.Please do something productive with your day instead of going to a blog and bitching about your ex boyfriend

hello Edgar.............turning a potentially meaningful conversation into a homophobic diatribe.......you must be a paying Rockie fan......not enough maturity to understand adult conversation.this blog is not about me......Mr. Martin's blog is about a flailing MLB sports venue....and my comments zero in on a major reason for losing season after season......the owners, aka, the Monforts.

About Me

Born and raised in Colorado, I have followed the Rockies since their inception. I am a freelance writer who covers the Colorado Rockies for the Colorado Springs Gazette, doing their Rox/Sox blog. I have also covered the team for INDenverTimes.com, a spin off of the former Rocky Mountain News. Some of the best days of my life have involved the Rockies.